A quarter of a century has passed since Lucas Erno began teaching children about science on The William George Agency (WGA) campus in Freeville, NY
“ There’s such a unique opportunity here. Like the fact that we have so much control over the direct environment and that students will run into adults all across the campus wanting to support them and in positions to help them,” says Erno
Erno is the science department chair at The George Junior Republic (GJR) Special Act school, which is located on campus and educates youth receiving out-of-home therapeutic services from WGA. He is also a lead staff of the Chance Takers Club, created for students interested in being an advocate for change in their environment, be it physical, social-emotional, or ecologically.
“ Too often we hear from youth that they don’t think they matter They’ve often been through a lot before coming to campus. They think ‘I’m just one person what could I do?’ We teach kids that even the little things matter You can influence the people around you and realistically hope that your actions will draw attention to the right person who can take it to the next level,” Erno explains.
Erno integrates the natural environment of the campus into his lesson plans whenever possible.
“ We are fortunate to have such immediate access to amazing geogr aphy Students can walk right outside the classroom to experience a real-life application of what we’re reading about in a t ex t b o o k Fo r m a n y, h a n d s - o n ex p e r i e n t i a l l ea r n i n g i m p ro v e s understanding and retention of concepts,” says Erno
“ We’ve long viewed our rural environs as one of the finest tools we have to nurture healing and growth,” says Helen Hulings, executive director of The William George Agency for Children’s S e r v i c e s “ I n a d d i t i o n t o a u g m e n t i n g t r a d i t i o n a l c l a s s r o o m experiences, spending time in nature can lower stress, increase cognitive attention, and improve mental health. For youth with limited access to nature in their home environments, our campus has been a transformative experience.”
One popular campus destination is a man-made pond that spans approximately six acres and is officially known as Loch Urquhart. It provides an attractive year-round view from the campus dining hall as well as a real-life resource for Erno’s students to test water quality factors.
“ When I first arrived in the late 1990s, the campus pond was an obvious part of everyday life,” recalls Erno “ There were physical education classes and recreational activities that routinely took place there. Kids learned fly fishing, and there was an elective in fly tying and preparation. But time allows environments to change. Sediments will build up and stuff will grow We’ve talked about this natural process in our biology classes. The pond has been slowly reverting back to a field.”
A conversation between Erno and an eleventh-grader, who expressed disappointment at the lack of fish in the pond, reignited a long-standing interest to restore a functional habitat for both fish and recreational activities.
Students began computing the specific details about pond size, amount of fish needed, and total cost of the project. They then presented a plan to WGA leadership, which fast-tracked the project. Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) fishery permits were obtained and plans were made to remove decaying trees and years of accumulated silt.
Students borrowed hip waders, water quality test kits, nets, buckets and various additional devices from the OCM BOCES Science Center They also learned how to operate a drone.
WGA’s facilities and vocational trainers took youth on a field trip to a local fishery to purchase three dozen grass carp. Recreation staff served as lifeguards looking on while students in hip-waiters released the weed-eating fish into their new home.
Youth not only helped create a healthy ecosystem for fish but also met with workers from the Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District and the DEC.
“ They got to see that not all jobs require working behind a desk. They could become field biologists or ecologists that count and identify water bugs all day long. A great way to make money and feel good while doing it,” says Erno.
Perhaps most importantly, youth learned that change can and d o e s h a p p e n t h ro u g h h a rd w o r k , i m a g i n at i o n , c reat i v i t y a n d collaboration.
T h e W i l l i a m G e o r g e A g e n c y f o r C h i l d r e n ’ s S e r v i c e s i s committed to providing a safe and caring residential environment supported by proven, therapeutic, clinical and medical care for atr i s k y o u t h F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t t h e i r w e b s i t e : www.wgaforchildren.org.
In a shocking revelation, Augustine M.K. Choi, M.D., a former dean and provost at Weill Cornell Medicine, stands accused of falsifying or manipulating data from experiments on animals spanning two decades. The gravity of these allegations has led to the retraction of nine published studies and the withdrawal of a tenth, prompting a swift and forceful response from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
PETA is urging three separate federal agencies to investigate the allegations, terminate Choi’s funding, and prevent him from conducting further experiments involving animals or taxpayer dollars. The organization has raised concerns about the potential impact of Choi’s research on human participants, given that some of his studies have led to clinical trials involving humans.
Dr. Katherine Roe, a neuroscientist at PETA, emphasized the ethical and safety implications of Choi’s alleged misconduct. “Choi’s behavior is unethical and dangerous,” Dr. Roe stated. “Retraction of his papers is a first step, but now officials should protect humans and other animals, cut off his funding, and release the results of a thorough investigation.”
The allegations against Choi include the duplication of images representing data from experiments, splicing images, and copying images from previous publications. Several publications have required corrections, and there are concerns
about duplicated or manipulated images in numerous other papers connected with Choi, dating back to at least 2002.
Of particular concern are Choi’s experiments involving live animals, which have been described as painful and traumatizing. These experiments include administering lethal doses of infectious agents to mice, forcefeeding mice silica particles, and puncturing the intestines of mice to induce sepsis. Additionally, invasive sepsis experiments were conducted on baboons deliberately given pneumonia, despite longstanding knowledge that such experiments are not relevant to humans.
called on HHS to increase scrutiny of and penalties against experimenters for research misconduct that involves nonhuman animals.”
PETA’s efforts to address the issue extend beyond Choi’s case, as the organization has filed a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for continuing to fund sepsis experiments on animals. Dr. Roe highlighted the need for increased scrutiny and penalties against researchers engaged in research misconduct involving nonhuman animals, citing recent cases affiliated with Harvard University.
“Choi’s alleged misconduct is just the latest among similar high-profile cases,” Dr. Roe stated. “PETA has previously
The response to these allegations underscores broader concerns about research integrity and ethical conduct in scientific studies. The need for transparency, accountability, and adherence to ethical standards is paramount to ensure the welfare of both animals and human participants involved in research.
In light of the allegations against Choi and similar cases, there is a growing demand for stronger regulatory measures to prevent research misconduct and safeguard the integrity of scientific inquiry.
PETA’s advocacy for increased scrutiny
Continued on Page 15
The Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) Board of Directors has announced a public hearing scheduled for April 17 to address proposed service adjustments, including the continuation of the suspension of routes 14S (West Hill Shopper) and 83 (Campus and Cayuga Heights area). These routes have been on pause since October due to chronic driver shortages and bus challenges, exacerbated by the ongoing impacts of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
According to TCAT’s service reduction policy, the suspension of routes 14S and 83 constitutes "major" service reductions, affecting more than 20 percent of service within distinct geographical areas. Such reductions are permitted on a temporary basis, not exceeding 180 days, and only if circumstances beyond the agency's control necessitate them.
TCAT has faced significant challenges in recruiting sufficient drivers, especially in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, coinciding with a wave of retirements among experienced transit operators. Additionally, the agency has grappled with maintaining an adequate fleet of road-ready buses, with unforeseen mechanical issues plaguing even relatively new electric buses acquired from Proterra just three years ago.
WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU’LL NEVER DO AGAIN?
“Doubt my intuition.”
“Jump out of an airplane.”
– Mahogany A.
“Ignore my pain.”
“Since we all learn from our mistakes, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do again.”
– Ken Z.
“Never eat meat again.”
– Filomena J.
The South Hill Recreation Way Trail will extend eight miles longer as a result of a new agreement reached between NYSEG and the town supervisors of Ithaca, Dryden, Caroline, and Danby. At the Monday, March 8 meeting, the town of Ithaca approved the easement agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The trail will extend to the Tompkins County/Tioga County border on the former Ithaca and Owego railroad bed property owned by NYSEG, providing a direct recreational and commuter pathway between the southeastern part of the county and Ithaca.
According to the Town of Ithaca, this project has been in the works for over 15 years, with the minimization of impact on nearby residents a priority. The project involved Cornell students to help identify challenges and make recommendations. The next step in the project is for each town to hold a public hearing, and eventually vote to adopt the recreational easement agreement.
Trish Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E, commented on the collaboration between the towns and NYSEG.
“While safely delivering energy is our priority, collaborating with local officials on initiatives that benefit the communities we serve is foundational to who we are as a member of those communities,” Nilsen said. “That’s why we were happy to work with the towns of Dryden, Ithaca, Caroline, and Danby to enable the South Hill Recreation Way Trail to extend on NYSEG land, promoting healthy lifestyles and recreation, and making more land available for all to enjoy.”
“This has been many years in the making.”
— Rod Howe
Howe explained that each town involved in the project would pay a certain share of the price for the extension, which is not negotiable under SEQRA. The total sale price of the trail easement from NYSEG to the towns was $36,667.
“There’s enormous support and anticipation in the community for this rail trail project that will connect neighbors and destinations,” Witmer said. “We look forward to making this a reality for our community.”
Witmer emphasized that the extension of the trail will be used and appreciated by the community, and thanked everyone who was involved in the project.
“This has been many years in the making,” Supervisor for the town of Ithaca Rod Howe said. “The easement is all the way from where our current South Hill Trail ends, so from Burns Road, and it goes all the way out to the Tioga County line. It’s been great working with NYSEG on this.”
“You’ll see that we would be paying our share, which totals $6,618,” Howe said. “There was a formula to help decide what each of the towns would pay of the appraisal price.”
Town of Caroline Supervisor Mark Witmer said that the extension of the trail is an exciting step for the community.
“[We are] providing a valuable community asset that will be appreciated for many years to come,” Witrmer said. “We are purchasing property for this use for our community and it has no expiration. [...] I just think it’s really wonderful.”
Jason Leifer, supervisor of the town of Dryden said that the transformation of rail beds into trails has excellent benefits to the area.
“Studies consistently show that turning old rail beds into recreation and commuter trails connect communities, promotes recreation, and increases tourism,” Leifer said. “Rail trails improve the quality of life for everyone.”
Town of Ithaca Board Member Margaret Johnson said that it was impressive how all of the towns collaborated and achieved this extension of the trail with no expiration.
“I realize rail projects take years and are difficult at times, and for you to move this to an easement with no ending is really amazing,” Johnson said.
Although this is only one example of local intermunicipal collaboration, it shows how the communities can work together, according to Howe.
“This represents a great example of intermunicipal collaboration that has multiple positive impacts,” Howe said.
After reliability concerns, mechanical issues, parts shortages and inconsistent service, TCAT has decided to pause services on their seven electric buses, which are now sitting idle in the TCAT garage. The TCAT board of directors plans to vote to purchase five new diesel “replacement” buses at their meeting on Friday, April 12.
The electric buses were pulled on Wednesday, March 13 following mechanics’ discovery of the frame of one of the buses separating from the axle while it was on a lift. This rendered the bus “unfit for service”, according to TCAT, and Acting General Manager Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones pulled all seven electric buses from service.
The electric buses, purchased in 2021 from electric bus company Proterra, which filed for bankruptcy just two years after the buses were purchased, originally cost about $1 million each. As a result of the bankruptcy filing, Proterra’s transit line was sold to Phoenix Motor in January.
The buses were paid for by a variety of sources, including federal, state and local funders. Local funders included the city of Ithaca, Tompkins County and Cornell University.
one or two on the road each day [...] the utilization has been fairly poor, especially compared to diesel buses of a similar age, they would be on the road much more frequently.”
TCAT said that the electric buses history of inoperability “substantially impacts TCAT’s ability to meet service demands.”
Rosenbloom-Jones said that it will not have an impact on TCAT’s service for the near future.
“We’ve been able to use our diesel buses to supplement the loss of the electric buses, and we’ve been able to do that without any impact to our service,” Rosenbloom-Jones said.
for replacing their diesel buses until 2036.
Cornell University beat Georgia Tech to win the undergraduate title in the 2024 National Quiz Bowl championship.
The last total solar eclipse for the next 40 years took place this past Monday on April 8th, but many excited eclipse watchers had their views at least partially blocked by cloudy weather.
Additionally, he said that the previous electric buses were mostly used on routes that went through Cornell, as they are typically shorter distances to accommodate the battery life of electric buses. Although the buses weren’t restricted to any specific routes, the Cornell routes were the most energy efficient.
“The acquisition of the diesel buses will delay, but not abandon TCAT’s aim toward operating an entirely emission-free fleet.”
The five new diesel buses, which will be purchased from the company Gilleg, will cost nearly half as much as the electric buses did, at about $517,000 each. According to a TCAT press release, the replacement buses will be funded by the state’s Modernization Enhancement and Accelerated Transit Capital programs.
— Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones
TCAT says the buses will take a year to be manufactured, but there is a chance they will come sooner if TCAT’s order is fulfilled alongside a larger transit agency’s order that is buying hundreds of buses at a time.
Currently, TCAT only has a fleet of 53 buses, so the seven electric buses made up 13% of their fleet. TCAT says that since the electric buses launched, the parts shortage for their slew of mechanical issues caused most of them to regularly be out of service.
“They had very high rates of down time,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “I’ve been here since January and most of the time we’ve only had
Although there may not be any short-term effects on service, there may be long-term effects on the operability of the current diesel buses.
“It’s forcing us to put more miles on older diesel buses, at a time when we’d like to be phasing out some of those older buses,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “But in the immediate term, there are not really any problems it causes.”
The purchase of new diesel buses goes against TCAT’s 2018-2030 strategic plan, which aimed to make their transit more sustainable by having all electric transit vehicles by 2035. The plan says, “TCAT is committed to doing its part in furthering sustainable outcomes in Tompkins County. As TCAT considers changes that will make it a more sustainable transit system, we can transition our fleet to buses that have less of an environmental impact than the current diesel dependent fleet.”
Now, six years and $7 million later, their fleet of buses is still entirely diesel powered. TCAT says this will not be a permanent solution; it will only delay their original 2035 goal by “a few years”. Unfortunately, this means TCAT can’t seek more funding
“The acquisition of the diesel buses will delay, but not abandon TCAT’s aim toward operating an entirely emission-free fleet,” Rosenbloom-Jones said.
TCAT explained that they are “still on track” to purchase seven more electric buses through the federal Low-No Grant Program, hoping to have the buses by 2026.
Unlike the previous buses, TCAT plans to buy those buses from Gillig, which Rosenbloom-Jones said is producing “high-quality” battery-electric buses. He explained that Proterra was very new to the electric bus industry and they used newer, less tested technology when constructing their buses, which he believes led to the reliability and mechanical issues.
“I think some of the other problems [with Proterra] were just lack of experience in manufacturing a good transit bus,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “We’ve worked with Gilleg for a long time, Gilleg has been in the industry for a long time. Personally, I feel like they make the best transit bus on the market.”
The future electric buses from Gilleg are expected to cost $988,311, which is just over the previous $954,000 buses from Proterra, but Rosenbloon-Jones has hopes for increased reliability. When compared to diesel buses, he says the lifespan is somewhat similar, although the electric buses cost much more.
“In many ways, a lot of the parts on a diesel bus that fail over time, you just don’t have on an electric bus, but the big problem [with electric] is the batteries,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “The batteries do have a life cycle, they will degrade over time and they are extremely expensive to replace. Some components do last much longer, but overall the lifespan is somewhat similar.”
Facing declining ridership, service cuts and driver shortages, TCAT board members cite restoring service and rebuilding
On Sunday afternoon shortly before noon, state and local law enforcement agencies responded to a bomb threat downtown at the Dewitt Mall. According to IPD, there is currently no evidence indicating that the threat received was credible.
The Ithaca Farmers Market at Steamboat Landing officially reopened for the season on April 6. The market will operate on Saturdays through December 21st, and be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Additionally, starting May 5th and continuing through November, Sunday markets will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
IF YOU CARE TO RESPOND to something in this column, or suggest your own praise or blame, write news@ithacatimes. com, with a subject head “U&D.”
How many cannabis dispensaries should Ithaca have? 23
RE: Ithaca City School District Budget and Taxes
“I agree with the very well written article by Dan Giblin and his great explanation on the connection between assessment and property taxes. The much talked about, large 20% assessment increase in Tompkins county, is indeed an ever larger pie to feast on when money is needed by school boards to balance budgets. We keep talking every week about the un-affordability of Ithaca, and this is exactly why. Ithaca keeps spending, raising assessments, budgets, and taxes. Homeowners that want keep their home, who have no intention of selling, are punished year after year. If we all know and complain about people’s wages not being able to keep up with inflation/ housing cost in Ithaca, why does Tompkins County and the school districts continue to keep burdening homeowners with increased assessments, and large increased tax levy percentages when compared to the entire state? This WILL INDEED raise
your property taxes, making housing LESS affordable. The answer is to stop spending. You can have all you want, but it comes at a price. Don't come running to me about the un-affordability of Ithaca!” — John Duthie
“The campaign starts a few weeks before the vote. A diminished press provides scant coverage and no critical assessments. Facts essential to voter decision making are presented in a form most find incomprehensible. But it doesn’t matter. Voters are given only one choice.
No, this isn’t an election in Putin’s Russia. It’s the ICSD budget vote.
In 2023-2024, the ICSD budget was $158,588,080 and total enrolment was about 4800 students. That’s about $33,000 per student — about the same as the average cost of tuition and fees to attend Cornell. Only about 50% of the budget goes to instructional costs.
ICSD voters deserve more transparency. They deserve a budget in a form they can digest, that includes line-by-line comparisons with comparable districts in NYS and in other states, that compares budget trends with trends in student outcomes. They deserve at least six weeks after the budget is released for vigorous public discussion before any vote. The vote should involve a choice between options with different trade-offs.
The local economy and job market are strong. Now is a perfect time for ICSD to
make cuts to bring its budget growth back to sustainable levels.
Vote No!” — Robert Thorne
“I am a hard-working farmer. I will lose my family farm if ICSD raises taxes again, to pay Luvelle Brown’s exorbitant salary. He should voluntarily resign. He can’t even write a coherent letter to the editor. What “stuff” does he refer to in his recent letter? Perhaps he was educated at IHS? I will pay for bus drivers, teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians, and free school lunches for hungry kids, but ICSD has far too many administrators.” — Claire Forest
“We moved to Ithaca a few years ago and have watched the local taxes increase significantly every year. This year our assessment went up by an astounding 35% and our local taxes by 20%. I reached out to the county assessor last month who explained that last year, the county did a drive-by assessment of every property in the county and that they had assessed our property as in “good” condition instead of “normal” condition as in years past, erroneously assuming we had renovated our home. The county also used comps miles and miles away from our home instead of nearly identical ones in our neighborhood, resulting in our assessment increasing 30% more than similar homes on our street. The assessor also explained that the county uses subjective standards for the assessment, like “curb appeal,” meaning, if a homeowner decides to maintain the visible part of their home from looking run down, they are penalized with higher taxes than a next door neighbor who does not. Yes, I will vote “no” on the budget, but shouldn’t we as a community organize ourselves and engage with the county to ensure the county is using appropriate and objective assessment standards? Also, many other jurisdictions in the US cap the amount of the increased assessment that is taxable. In fact, NY state has a limit that the taxable assessment value cannot increase more than 6% in a year or more than 20% in five years, but this cap only applies to locations with populations of 1M or more (aka, NYC and Nassau County). Why can’t this apply state wide or at least in Tompkins County? Shouldn’t we also encourage the local and state legislatures to put a ceiling on the amount of tax-free real property that a not for profit can acquire, especially those that own large percentages of the local property (e.g. not more than 1% of tax free state land, not more than 10% of tax free county land) or some sliding scale depending on the amount of tax free land owned by the
entity? Otherwise, don’t we as local and state taxpayers subsidize these entities who have no incentive to develop the land and relieve the local residents of such burdensome taxes?”
— Laura Ingalls“Henry Stark's review of the Heights Cafe, which mentioned a $48 entree of lamb neck, took me back to my graduate school days (almost 60 years ago!). We still ate meat then, and had very little money. Lamb neck and lamb breast were the cheapest cuts of meat you could buy, usually 9 cents/pound, sometimes on sale for less. But we quickly learned that they were no bargain because of the high ratio of bone to meat. The idea of paying $48 for lamb neck, even with the side dishes, made me laugh—and feel old.
I hope the workers at the Heights Cafe are reaping some benefit from their high prices, and are able to afford better cuts of meat than lamb neck.” — Deirdre Silverman
RE: Kingston Rent Rollbacks Set Precedent
“This will mean that despite the good works of the Ithaca Tenants Union, the city will likely bow down to the developers who are turning over the city to rich white people, and leaving the black population suffering.” — David Bly
“Why not just build more housing?
Because all the red tape, corruption and leftist nonsense in NY means only someone out of their mind would build in Ithaca. Meanwhile, there are at least 1,000 new apartments under construction within just a couple of miles of where I now live. No blather about “ultra wealthy, victories, struggle blah blah blah”. There’s just plenty of housing, plenty of jobs, and low cost of living generally.” — Steven Baginski
“Criminal Possession of a BB gun?
Seriously? Whatever happened to the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed? What’s next charging people with felonies for possessing squirt guns in their homes? Ridiculous.” — Richard Ballantyne
“A BB gun is still a weapon. Have you ever heard of someone losing an eye from a BB gun? Have you ever heard of pets being harmed? BB guns are not a good idea.” — Elisabeth Hegarty
Once in a while Susan C. Larkin thinks about the moments in her life when she made life-changing choices. How did she decide to become a photographer? “My father, Tim Crane, was a chemist at Kodak in Rochester, where my brothers and I grew up. He was also a member of the Kodak Camera Club, and we helped with the movies he made at home. My mother, Sarah P. Crane, was a professional artist. She painted still lifes, portraits, and landscapes. Mother’s studio was in our basement, around the corner from my father’s darkroom. My parents made the Cranes’ Christmas cards at home, and when Tim Larkin and I were married, my father’s gift to us was a small Kelsey press from his father’s printing company in Vermont.”
While Susan and Tim were raising their two sons, they continued the Crane family tradition of making cards, first with a letter press and later digitally. Another family
susanclarkin.com
Our Neighborhood at Lulu.com
Intersections: by Susan C. Larkin at Lulu.com
Have Trike Will Travel: bloghttps://havetrikewilltravel. wordpress.com/2011/05/20/
tradition Tim and Susan continued was traveling to Nantucket each summer, and later to Block Island, RI. However, instead of driving to the ferry from home, Susan and Tim traveled on their tandem recumbent tricycle. As Tim piloted from the front, Susan, the stoker, documented their trip in photos taken from the back. Each year they added to their blog: Have Trike, Will Travel
Over time, Susan continued turning to her camera and wanted to know more. “Tim taught himself, but I wanted to study Photoshop in a class. In 2005 I found that Tompkins Cortland Community College offered Photoshop at TC3 Biz in downtown Ithaca. I studied first with Keith Millman, and after a nine-week introduction, I was launched.”
Susan signed up for a full semester of digital photography with Harry Littell on the TC3 Dryden campus. “I have been studying photography at TC3 almost every semester ever since.” Each semester more senior citizens joined the class.
“After three semesters, my first extended project was a collection of stories and photographs told by our neighbors on Bailor Road and Central Chapel Road in the town of Caroline. In 2008 I published them in a book called Our Neighborhood.”
In addition to poetry, Larkin is also putting together a book of stories and photographs from people in Caroline.
“Next, I took a detour for a few years, but something clicked in 2020 and I returned to stories about people near where we live—This time about people on Bailor Road and Buffalo Road. For that book, entitled Intersections, I collected stories from friends and strangers who lived on these two roads. I learned, after sharing their stories, that there are more intersections between strangers than one might expect.”
“ I’m currently working on another book—stories and photographs from people in Caroline: What brings you here and what keeps you here? Are there connections between people who think they have nothing in common? I hope to have an answer by the time I have finished this book in October 2025.”
“After Our Neighborhood was published I wanted to work on
my own for a while—something that didn’t involve making appointments with people. That year Harry assigned a project in two parts: ‘Spend the first two weeks photographing something you like—something you’re used to. After that, try something new—something that pushes you outside your comfort zone. Give it a try for three weeks and see what happens.”
“I spent my first two weeks making environmental portraits in color. For something new, I decided to try closeups of plants and print them in black and white. Not far from my house I found a wild grapevine with delicate tendrils. I took a piece inside and tried a close-up. The photograph was only focused on part of the vine, but I wanted to see all of it. Using a tripod I took three photographs; each focused a little farther away from the camera than the one before. I combined the three images as layers in Photoshop and masked out the bits that weren’t in focus.”
“In our next photography class I learned that I had found a technique used by macro photographers called focus stacking. They make extreme close-ups by combining multiple photographs, each with a different depth of field. I learned there are computer programs that will combine the images, leaving touchup and editing to the photographer.”
“The three-week assignment extended to over ten years of creating close-ups, mostly with focus stacking. I exhibited in Ithaca, Corning, and Rochester, and also made books. Occasionally a photograph inspired my husband Tim to write a poem, and he designed a card to share with family and friends. Tim and I have continued the tradition my father started in 1930, when as a ten year old, he printed his first Christmas card.”
continued from page 5
readership as a first priority, above their sustainable fleet goals.
“We need to get through our current travails in order to survive and thrive, and then we can move forward with our commitment for an all-electric fleet,” Board
Member Deborah Dawson said. “But that time is not here yet and I hope the community will understand.”
Rosenbloom-Jones said the new buses from Gillig will have stricter lower-emission standards, and will be more sustainable than earlier models of diesel buses.
There has not yet been a decision about when or if any of the Proterra buses will return to service.
The Ithaca City School District (ICSD) school board has been talking about their proposed 2024-25 budget for weeks. While the school board flaunts a stabilized tax rate, the district anticipates a higher tax levy to bridge the funding gap as assessments in Tompkins County rise. ICSD has proposed a $13 million increase in their tax levy for the 2024-25 school year, a 12.14% increase from the 2023-24 budget.
As Ithaca nears the date of the budget vote, the board has been giving in-depth information and budget breakdowns. Superintendent Luvelle Brown gave a presentation on the 2024-25 budget at the Tuesday, March 26 school board meeting.
According to Brown, when he started working as the superintendent, several people challenged him to stabilize and not raise the tax rate for the community. The tax rate will be the same as the 2023-24 school year, at $16.22 per $1,000 of assessed value of a given property. The proposed budget and plan for the future is to keep this tax rate for the next three to five years.
“Prior to me, the tax rate had fluctuated, and folks were unsure about what tax rate they would expect from the school district,” Brown said. “We heard from the Tompkins County assessor [...] not long ago. He was asking us to stabilize the tax rate because it would be beneficial to the businesses and community members if they knew for the foreseeable future what the tax rate would be.”
When asked to confirm that he asked the school to stabilize the tax rate, Director of Assessment for Tompkins County Jay Franklin said, “I definitely didn’t say anything like that [...] I would never ever speak about a tax rate because to me tax rates are irrelevant.”
Franklin clarified that he said businesses and people like to know what their expenses and tax bills are going to be, and that they don’t like uncertainty. He told the Ithaca Times that if the district focused on stabilizing the tax levy instead of the tax rate, the public would have a better expectation of what their tax bills would look like.
Maddy Vogel
ICSD has proposed a $13 million increase in their tax levy for the 2024-25 school year, a 12.14% increase from the 2023-24 budget.
are going to be,” Franklin said. “What the school district should be focusing on is stabilizing the tax levy.”
The levy which the district sets is based on the services they wish to provide to stu-
their tax levy the same as last year, they could actually lower their tax rate.
“If you stabilize the tax rate that doesn’t mean anything about stabilizing what taxes are going to be. What the school district should be focusing on is stabilizing the tax levy.”
— Jay Franklin
“If you stabilize the tax rate that doesn’t mean anything about stabilizing what taxes
dents, and the amount of money they need from property taxes to pay for those services. Franklin said that if the district kept
“Their tax rate could drop from $16.22 down to $14.33 [per $1,000 of assessed value] and they could still generate the same amount of their tax levy as they did last year,” Franklin said. Assessment increases have caused concerns for the community. Each year, Tompkins County reassesses all properties to reflect a property’s current market value, and many people in Tompkins County have experienced a significant increase in the assessed values of their homes this year.
Although the ICSD tax rate is expected to remain the same, the rise in the tax levy
will lead to many people paying a higher dollar amount in taxes, specifically those whose assessed values have skyrocketed. Brown claims that they do not consider these assessment increases when drafting their budgets.
“We have not, to this point, created a budget based on individual property value reassessments,” Brown said. “Our school district is not responsible for the tax assessment increases, I do also know there is an appeal process.”
According to Franklin, residents within the Ithaca City School District saw an average increase in assessments on single family homes of 20.1% this year. This year’s ICSD budget will be based on the 2024 assessment roll, unlike the municipalities’ budgets, which will be based on 2023 assessments. The 2024
The 2024-25 budget is set to increase from over $158 million (2023-24) to $170 million. This is a 7.79% increase in their total budget. This year’s proposed levy increase of 12.14% is nearly quadruple the cap + growth (2%+1.2% =3.2%. (Photo: Dan Giblin)
assessment roll will be officially filed on July 1, but the budget vote is on May 21.
According to Franklin, the average assessment for a single family home within the Ithaca City School District in the 2024 preliminary assessment roll is $386,866. With the ICSD tax rate at $16.22 per $1,000, this makes an average tax bill of $6,274.97.
The anticipated tax levy for the 2024-25 school year is over $120 million; the tax levy for the 2023-24 school year was over $107 million, creating an increase in the tax levy of about $13 million, or 12.14%. This year, the district has had to override the state-imposed tax cap to help balance their budget.
The state tax cap was passed in 2011, and in the past 10 years, the district has overrode the tax cap three times, in the 2014-15, 202223 and now in the proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year.
our contractual obligations. None of our contractual obligations are in the 3% range.”
The 2024-25 budget is set to increase from over $158 million (2023-24) to $170 million. This is a 7.79% increase in their total budget.
When the total proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year for ICSD, $170,935,371, is divided by the total number of students K-12, 4,841, you get a cost of $35,310 per student. Compared to the neighboring school districts of Elmira and Cortland, there is a significant difference in the cost per student between districts.
Elmira City School District has a cost of $29,300 per student, while Cortland Enlarged City School District has a cost of $17,347 per student.
Note that the latest New York State Education Department data on total numbers of students is from the 2022-23 school year.
“Our school district is not responsible for the tax assessment increases.”
Brown said that if the school district stayed within the tax cap, they would be faced with $9 million in budget reductions. He emphasized the effects on the community if ICSD did not override the tax cap this year.
“That’s programs, that’s people, that’s a significant shift,” Brown said. “That’s not keeping up with
— Luvelle Brown
In response to questions raised by the Ithaca Times about the proposed budget, tax levy and costs per student, Board President Sean Eversly Bradwell said that many questions related to the budget can be answered at finance committee meetings.
“The Board of Education is aware of the multiple pressures and competing factors placed on
families, taxpayers, and school districts,” Bradwell said via email.
The use of fund balances has fluctuated year by year. Brown said they are “inching closer” to taking out too many funds again.
“We’ve used our fund balances very strategically, in partnership with external consultants to make sure were using it in a way where we can recover, where were not impacting our bond rating, and if an unfunded mandate were to come down like electric busses, we could accommodate that need without significantly fluctuating the tax rate,” Brown said.
balances. This year, they used $7,043,679, making the projected use of fund balances decrease 28.5%.
The anticipated loss in state
“We’re going to absorb the loss of significant federal and state aid,” Brown said.
Brown stated that the board has seen the most significant salary increases in the school district's history over the past 10 years, which is due to new sixyear contracts being signed.
“This budget would allow us to continue to meet those contractual obligations,” Brown said. “And I’ve said very publicly, it’s no secret, I’m looking to do even more, because folks have asked us to do more. We need to pay our educators more to recruit and retain. That is a priority for this board, it's a priority for this community.”
Brown emphasized that the budget has been created with the communities priorities in mind.
He said that the community values small elementary schools, small class sizes and a wide variety of co-curricular activities.
“I want folks to know that what we have proposed in previous years and what we are proposing in this budget supports our communities priorities,” Brown said.
“Make highlighted section into a pull quote. We need to pay our educators more to recruit and retain. That is a priority for this board, it's a priority for this community.”
— Luvelle Brown
For 2024-25, ICSD projects using $5,036,277 in fund
and federal aid is a challenge for ICSD, as it is with several other local school districts this year. Brown said that many other schools are reducing staff and programming, which he believes he will avoid with this year’s proposed budget.
Superintendent Luvelle Brown did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.
There will be a public budget hearing on Tuesday, May 14 at 5:30 p.m. in IHS’s York Hall. The 2024 budget vote and school board election will take place Tuesday, May 21 from 12-9 p.m. May 7 is the voter registration deadline.
ICSD tax levy increases since 2014.(Photo: ICSD)
Two coaching stories came out of Cornell in the past few days — I have known one of the guys since he was a freshman basketball player in 2006, and the other since he was a rising senior wide receiver in 1982.
After playing an important role on the Big Red teams that won three consecutive Ivy titles from 2008-2010, and serving as an assistant for over a decade, Jon Jacques (Cornell class of ‘10) was named the Cornell men’s basketball head coach. In the words of Cornell’s Athletic Director, Nicki Moore, “Jon’s is an incredible Cornell story — from recruit, to scout team player, team captain and starter on a Sweet 16 team, to alumnus, assistant, and finally associate head coach.” Moore added, “In every conversation we’ve had about this program, it became increasingly clear that
Jon’s experiences and preparation have led him to this moment. In a very impressive field of candidates, he set himself apart as the right person at the right time to lead Cornell men’s basketball.”
As a player, Jacques showed incredible patience as he spent his share of minutes on the bench, watching the program’s marquee stars, like Ryan Wittman, Louis Dale and Jeff Foote gobble up much of the attention and accolades. However, when his name was called, Jon came off the bench in many crucial game situations, hit some mega-clutch three-pointers, and was just happy to be a part of something special.
As an assistant coach, he spent his share of time in the background, modeling that patience and gratitude. While the outside observer might have perceived Jacques as a less-than-crucial cog in the wheel, those in the know were well aware that the
continuity and familiarity he brought to the team were highly valuable. Jon knew the program from the inside out, and like he did as a player, he made it better. Congratulations, Coach Jacques. You really deserve this.
The other hire was Michael Huyghue (Cornell class if ‘83) as the Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football at Cornell. Huyghue becomes — remarkably — just the fourth head coach of the program since 1957.
I met Mike when I was the Associate Director of the Cornell Summer Sports School, and he was a camp counselor. He was preparing for his senior season, and he took it very seriously, working out faithfully and heading into the football season in phenomenal physical condition.
Huyghue took his academics just as seriously, enrolling in law school at Michigan after graduating from Cornell, and his involvement with the game he loved continued on an upward trajectory — not on the gridiron itself, but as an intern with the NFL Players Association. He would utilize that knowledge and experience to become pro football’s youngest General Manager when he was hired by the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football, and when he became the Director of Football Operations for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars in 1994, he played a key role in the Jags reaching two consecutive AFC Championship games. He also served as the Commissioner of the United Football
This Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m., Ithaca Garden Club and Ithaca Children’s Garden will host five-hundred participants at Cass Park for 1-mile and 5K races. As the runners jog down park paths and along the Cayuga Inlet, they will pass between golden beds of daffodils and beneath the white crowns of blooming crabapple trees. These spring flowers are all the result of beautification projects spearheaded by the Ithaca Garden Club. Over the last four years, they have helped plant over 130,000 bulbs of hyacinths and daffodils and 75 trees to enhance the natural beauty of our city’s public spaces.
What do 500 runners and 130,000 blooming daffodils have in common? This Saturday’s Daffodil Dash at Cass Park.
Although the Garden Club has been planting flowers and trees for over a century, the Daffodil Dash is a relatively new feature of Ithaca’s community event calendar. This will be its second year, following its inauguration in Spring 2023.
Elaine Alexander, Garden Club President, told me the Dash was a “bold step” for the club, which traditionally raised funds through luncheons, dinners, boutiques, and holiday teas. But when club member Melinda Oakes suggested the idea, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to reach a larger audience by showcasing the natural beauty of the newly planted flowers. They adapted accordingly.
“Many of our club members who were experienced at creating holiday decor for our traditional teas switched gears and helped to create festive daffodil-themed decor for the race. Instead of serving tea and selling hand-crafted items at a holiday boutique, they volunteered on race day to register runners and walkers, hand out T-shirts, and cheer for participants!” said Elaine.
So far, the Daffodil Dash has seen much success. Last year, funds were raised to plant an additional 40,000 flower bulbs in October 2023. The race enjoyed support from a huge crowd of individual participants, as well as from The Park Foundation, which paid for the expenses of hosting the event so that every
dollar raised could be spent on public beautification.
This year’s event will rally together an even larger variety of local people and organizations. This year’s expenses were paid for by several corporate sponsors—the Triad Foundation, Happily Running, Bangs Ambulance, Triphammer Laundromat, Iron Design, Wegmans, Tops, Greenstar, and Agway. Every single one of the 500 available runner spots was filled by pre-registrations a week before the race. The daffodil planting project continues to enjoy the support of City Forester Jeanne Grace, who helped site the plantings, and Professor Bill Miller of Cornell, who inspired the project’s beginnings and provided the use of a Dutch bulb planting machine to get the job done fast.
Elaine Alexander is excited to see what impact this year’s Daffodil Dash will have on the local community. Elaine grew up in a developing nation, where she witnessed a stark contrast in public maintenance between the neighborhood in which she lived and other nearby areas. Since joining the Ithaca Garden Club in the late 1980’s, she has seen what a difference clubs and nonprofits can make in improving the overall well being of a city. In the early 1950’s the Garden Club planted thousands of forsythia bushes in town, earning Ithaca the nickname “Forsyth-
ia City.” Since 1952, the club has purchased trees annually for the City of Ithaca Arbor Day celebration. Each year during the holiday season, they decorate Cayuga Medical Center. They have partnered with Ithaca Children’s Garden, Sciencenter, PRI, Hanger Theatre, Hospicare, and Cancer Resource Center, among others. As a legacy organization of CFWO (City Federation of Women’s Organizations), the club also places a special priority on supporting women by awarding grants to local women and girls and hosting a collaborative dinner to raise funds for low-income single mothers.
Elaine said “We hope that everyone who participates in Daffodil Dash is inspired in some way to continue to support projects and activities that enhance the natural beauty of our community for everyone’s enjoyment for years to come!” Everyone is invited to come out to cheer the runners on and enjoy the sight of Ithaca’s spring flowers.
Ithaca Garden Club
1 Mile and 5K fundraising races
Saturday April 13, 9 a.m.
Cass Park 701 Taughannock Blvd., Ithaca Registration is complete at 500 participants
Saturday 7:30PM April 13
I am grateful every day that Kendal at Ithaca is my home. - Mary
If Schrödinger’s cat became a play, that play might be Carbon, receiving it’s English language premiere at the Cherry.
Entering the Cherry Artspace we are confronted with a series of concentric circles; white, gray and red predominate as colors. Seated arena-style just two layers deep, we tightly encircle a disc of soft gray office carpet with two swivel-style office chairs, a triad of projection screens looming behind us. (Scenic design by director Sam Buggeln.)
The woman wants details, precision, feelings, a description of the “being.” She is kind but relentless.
Into this environment spills two figures: a man, clearly distraught and at the point of exhaustion (Jacob Garrett White) and his interrogator (Elizabeth Mozer), all echt-professional, polished to a gleam.
As the story unfolds, the man has survived a close encounter with an “alien being” (both these characterizations are challenged by the man.) Whatever it is, it is not only not human, it is not a carbonbased life-form at all.
Lest it be thought a delusion (the man himself wonders at his sanity), the encounter has been video recorded and has flooded the world. He is now worldfamous, yet he has not even been allowed ‘out.’ This is at least the second in a series of interrogations; he is losing sense of “the real” and what is on the videos he has watched. He wants out, home, he wants to see the daughter he was on the way to pick up from school.
Carbon
102 Cherry St, Ithaca
April 11-12: 7:30 p.m.;
April 13: 2 and 7:30 p.m.;
April 14: 7:30 p.m.
Suddenly a man appears behind the audience (Marc Gomes). He appears in order to explain “Carbon”— its needs, its wants, its history, its delusions, its desperate need to attach meaning to its own existence. Like any modern lecturer, he accompanies his examples with pictures and video clips. After each droll essay, many of them riffs on the “golden record” encoded with pictures, symbols and sounds of our Earth that NASA sent out decades ago with the Voyager spacecraft, we return to the interview, the figures in their chairs but their axis shifted, like a ticking clock.
This is a cerebral journey playwright Pier Lorenzo Pisano wishes us to take; in sci-fi terms much more 2001: A Space Odyssey than Blade Runner.
But what about Schrödinger’s cat?
Let’s call these characters the Survivor, the Interviewer and the Lecturer.
This quasi-sci-fi drama begins to reveal a quantum twist: reality itself begins to bend around the Survivor. In his atavistic reaction to the ‘wrongness’ of the ‘alien’ he has merged consciousness with all carbonbased life.
There are flashes of light, earthquake rumbles, the chairs begin to multiply. Which reality are we in, the Interviewer panics. Could the Survivor choose to pull
thecherry.org (in-person and live-streamed) Continued
The Klezmatics may not be the first band that launched the 1970s Klezmer revival, but they certainly are one of the most influential. That influence will be felt when they take to Cornell Univeristy’s Bailey Hall stage on Saturday, April 13.
Klezmer music has been loosely described as the secular music of the Eastern European Jews though it has always been influenced by local cultures as the Jewish Diaspora expanded in Europe. “Klezmer,” says trumpet player Frank London, “is the unique sound of East European Jewishness. It has the power to evoke a feeling of other-worldliness, of being there and then, of nostalgia for a time and place that we never knew.” Bassist Paul Morrissett adds, “We want to make sure that we are part of a living tradition, and living traditions change; they don’t stay in a pickled form.”
What makes the Klezmatics so authentically “unpickled,” unique and engaging is the eclectic background each musician brings to the band. London graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music after studying Afro-American and Third Stream music. The Third Stream program at NEC, unique in the world at that time, exposed him to the expressiveness and exploratory nature of free improvisation as well as Latin and Balkan music. While there, he was invited to join the budding Klezmer Conservatory Band which kickstarted the East Coast wave of the Klezmer revival movement.
Lorin Sklamberg grew up playing mostly Israeli folk dance music. Along the way, he dallied in Early Music, opera, American folk and pop, as well as Balkan and Eastern European music. Inspired by the Yiddish singer Michael Alpert, Sklamberg’s voice developed into what can be described as a “folk chazzan” or folk music-like cantor sound. Listen closely as he channels generations of chazzans that sang before him.
Matt Darriau also comes to klezmer through Balkan music with its unusual and syncopated rhythms and earthly dance energy. Paul Morrissett belatedly came to playing bass after growing up
playing a variety of ethnic instruments in a household where his father held Eastern European, Scandinavian, and Greek dance parties. Vocalist and violinist Lisa Gutkin was familiar with the Klezmatics while growing up studying classical violin. She embraced Irish and Bluegrass music and was in a Celtic Band when she became serious about embracing klezmer.
Though klezmer may be rooted in the past experience of American and European Jews, the Klezmatics are very much part of the contemporary soundscape. They are quick to embrace the term “World Music,” which implies a more cosmopolitan (and politically engaged) attitude towards the music in their repertoire.
London explains that, “By putting forth a consistent and coherent political and aesthetic Yiddish/klezmer music that embraces our political values—supporting gay rights, workers’ rights, human rights, universal religious and spiritual values expressed through particular art forms— and eschewing the aspects of Yiddish/ Jewish culture that are nostalgic, tacky, kitschy, nationalistic and misogynistic, we have shown a way for people to embrace Yiddish culture on their own terms as a living, breathing part of our world and its political and aesthetic landscape.” Gutkin adds that, “People are quite detached from their Jewish roots. The Klezmatics fill an incredible void.”
True to the term “world,” their performances over the past 25 years have reflected sounds and influences from the larger Middle East region, along with western classical music, African and Caribbean influences, American folk music and more.
They have performed and recorded with classical violinist virtuoso Itzhak Perlman. At the request of Woody’s Guthrie’s daughter Nora, they have written and recorded songs with lyrics written by Woody, winning a Grammy for the album Wonder Wheel in the process. They have recorded “Do the Ska (KlezSkaLypso)” on the Skatalites tribute CD Freedom Sounds. Their music has been choregraphed by the Pilolobus Dance Theatre at the Kennedy Center, and by modern dance’s Twyla Tharp.
The Klezmatics have visited Ithaca before, and an active klezmer music-
making community has thrived in Ithaca over the past 25 years. The Cornell University Klezmer Ensemble (CUKE) continues to flourish playing concerts and dances. For over a decade, the Ithaca College School of Music sponsored the IC Klezmorim (full disclosure, I was the founder and director), playing regular concerts and dance events.
Saturday night.
Master classes and residencies by clarinetist and scholar Joel Rubin and Frank London among others enriched not just the Jewish community but the local World music scene. Both ensembles spawned several local ensembles and several former members of both groups moved on to form their own klezmer groups, some of which continue to perform locally.
Peter Rothbart is a Professor Emeritus of Music at the Ithaca College School of Music,
Theatre and Dance where he taught electroacoustic and media music for 40 years. He remains active as a classical, jazz and pop musician.
Bailey Hall, Cornell University 230 Garden Ave., Ithaca Saturday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.
“Picasso’s Lovers” is the tempting title of local author Jeanne Mackin’s eighth historical novel. Released in late January by Penguin Random House, the book centers on Alana Olson, an aspiring arts journalist in the early 1950s. Pursuing an article on Picasso, she discovers intriguing stories of several key women in his life — as well as a new understanding of her own mother. Mackin spoke recently with Ithaca Times journalist Barbara Adams about her new work.
Ithaca Times: Six of your eight novels are set in France — what’s the pull of that country for you?
Jeanne Mackin: I have an ancestral connection; my grandmother’s family was from France. And French was the second language I chose to study in high school. I’m a great fan of French literature. And French
history is just so full of narrative. I feel connected, yet the culture is still foreign, which gives me distance — if a place is overly familiar, I’d be too close to it to write.
IT: In all your novels, there’s a female protagonist whose life intersects with famous historical figures� Most recently, you wrote about fashion icons Chanel and Schiaparelli — and now, why Picasso?
JM: Picasso has two reputations that I wanted to spend time researching and thinking about: one as an artistic genius and another as a predatory womanizer. As a historical novelist, I like finding if the cultural stories we tell ourselves are true. And after four years of research and looking at art, I believe Picasso was the greatest artist of the 20th century. His work was always startling, always innovative. My husband, a New Yorkbased artist in the 1960s, knew big-name artists there still hitting themselves against the wall, saying, “What can I do that Picasso didn’t already do?” And on Picasso’s other reputation: He was definitely a womanizer, but I don’t think he was a predator. I read several biographies of his lovers; the women he was involved with weren’t little schoolgirls.
IT: You’re really tackling the questions Shall we cancel Picasso? And can you cancel such great art? When did this become an issue?
JM: I don’t know for sure, but during the Me Too movement, his reputation took a real hit as a womanizer and a man not
monogamous in his relationships. But I think he was scapegoated; he he was a big name, a big target. If you examine the lives of many, many artists, you’ll find identical behavior. And he painted women in a way that was not conventionally flattering. Critics have even attacked his fragmenting of women in images.
IT: Let’s talk about Cubist fragmentation; some people still have trouble with it�
JM: Initially I did too, but I kept wondering what’s really going on there. Time fascinates me; it’s one reason I write historical fiction. Our senses perceive time as linear, but most physicists will tell you differently. In Cubist works, where all planes are different, I think these are about time — what you’re seeing is not a capturing a moment but rather faces moving through time, many moments going on at once, which isn’t conventionally pretty.
Yet Picasso also did some really beautiful paintings of women, especially in 1923, one year that I’m working with. And the book’s title, “Picasso’s Lovers,” is a play on “The Lovers,” one of the most tender, lovely 20th century paintings of a couple. His work had huge range, and yes, some of the styles aren’t flattering — but they’re not about “pretty women.” He’s not just seeing women as objects but as capable of personifying theories, which I think is great.
IT: So you’re working to counter certain prejudices about him?
IT: That’s how he comes across in your novel And the various women in it are all strong and independent, each in different ways The narrator, Alana, takes her writing seriously and is determined to interview Picasso There’s Sara Murphy, hostess par excellence, who gathered a crowd of luminaries around her And the painter Irène Lagut, one of his early lovers, is a model of self-determination
JM: I do think my fictional version of Picasso could have happened like this. He had lifelong friends who thought very highly of him, so he was not a monster. He was capable of very deep, enduring relationships with men and women. And some of those women were his previous lovers. Even when the affair ended, they stayed friends for life, so I can’t see him as this unlikable guy. He was also very charismatic, absolutely magnetic. But his personality could be severe; he kept a lot to himself. He definitely had a huge, huge ego but was also a canny businessman. He skillfully controlled the market for his work. He was a thoughtful, careful professional in this field, who also happened to be a visual genius.
There’s this myth of the artist suffering for his work, which too often involves drug usage to be more creative. But this incredibly creative, talented artist did not even drink heavily. Everyone else would be under the table, and he would be sipping his water. To me that shows him respecting his work and his gift rather than squandering it.
JM: Yes, as a writer, you don’t want to write about anything that’s going to bore you, because it will bore the reader. And I don’t like to write about weak women or victims; I like to show strength in all the characters. Irène Lagut was one of Picasso’s lovers before he was married to Olga; in fact, he even proposed to her. And she said no, which fascinates me. I find that wonderful — she had the sense not to marry a man whose ego was going to fill up whatever house they cohabited in. Another woman I mention is Françoise Gilot, Picasso’s lover for many years, who ultimately left him. As several other women did. At the end of my first draft, I realized I’d written about four women who’d walked out on Picasso.
IT: Besides developing persuasive characters and weaving the multiple storylines, you invoke certain historical conditions�
JM: In my fiction I want to show private lives being lived out in public arenas. We exist in a political society, so I require my historical characters do as well. The novel’s 1923 storyline reflects how in France, people were still reeling from
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and accountability serves as a reminder of the importance of upholding ethical standards in all areas of research.
As investigations into Choi’s alleged misconduct unfold, stakeholders across the scientific community will be closely monitoring developments and seeking
continued from page 10
League (UFL) from 2007-2012. When Huyghue’s connection to Sprint football began, he was quoted as saying “when my son joined the team a few years ago. I quickly fell in love with the program and stayed on after he graduated.” Mike has also been working as a visiting professor at Cornell’s Law School and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
I recently did a feature story on local firefighter and boxer Brian Christensen, who fought his first bout in the Battle of the Badges. The event was held in Watertown, and according to Christensen’s trainer, Danny Akers, “Brian won handily against the police officer he faced. He whipped the guy’s ass every round.”
continued from page 14
World War I. A generation of young men had been wiped out. When the war ended, people who survived wanted to party — and deserved to. They were affirming life.
In the 1953 narrative, Alana is accused of being Communist because she and a friend demonstrate to integrate a
assurances that appropriate actions are taken to address any wrongdoing. The outcome of these investigations will have far-reaching implications for research ethics and the protection of both animal and human subjects.
For more information on PETA’s advocacy efforts and ethical considerations in research, visit PETA.org or follow the organization on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
continued from page 12
the world (universe?) into a different reality he prefers?
Yet the Lecturer simply rattles on, somewhat dismissive of his subject, Carbon (humanity).
It’s not a drama of resolutions, but of questions and intellectual riffs.
A fairly typical Cherry Arts international offering, but an offering in high style. Buggeln’s typically precise visual storytelling is greatly enhanced by his fellow designers: Conor Mulligan on lights, Nils Hoover on video and most crucially, the sound design of Don Tindall.
The acting is superlative: Mozer all glacial until not, Gomes sonorous, lightly teasing, shaping little sonnets of his commentary, and White the tortured center of human need.
New York restaurant. Under McCarthyism, supporting labor or civil rights or integration could get you blacklisted. It was a far-right extremism before our own generation, and I was glad to include that as part of the storyline. Hatred and violence in 1953, in 2023 — things have not changed a whole lot.
Barbara Adams, a regional arts journalist, teaches writing at Ithaca College.
